Alarmed by the increasingly high rates of desertion from the conscript army, the Eritrean regime has decided to convert Sawa into a vocational school and construct a new boot camp further from the Sudanese border.

Per day, an estimated 20 Eritrean youth are reportedly crossing the Sudanese and Ethiopian borders.

The new boot camp is expected to be constructed at Mei’ter, about twenty kilometers from Marsa Gulbub, in the [formerly Sahel] Northern Red Sea zone.  It is unclear how tens of thousands of new residents are going to be accommodated given the scarcity of water in the area.  Mei’ter does not have sufficient water to support its current population—the water is transported from Mae’mide.

The primary appeal of Mei’ter is that it is in the middle of nowhere: 40 kilometers of arid desert separate it from the nearest population center.  President Isaias Afwerki, who conducted an inspection tour of the area, is said to be skeptical of the location—but construction work has already been approved.

If the construction is carried out, Mei’ter will supplement Kiloma as the primary boot camp for those serving in the Agelglot, or “National Service.”

Meanwhile, the regime continues to suffer from severe shortage of currency to fund its massive Warsay-Yeka’alo project.   Isaias Afwerki, accompanied by the ruling party’s chief of finance, Hagos Kisha, as well as Tesfai Goitom (Gurage), visited Qatar to solicit external funds to finance the construction projects.   

The so-called Ritawi Dukan ["fair shops" managed by the ruling party] which were ostensibly set up to combat the artificial shortages created by the allegedly greedy private merchants, have failed to deliver basic necessities like cooking oil and lentils.  A staple like Taf is available in small and affordable portions of  “sifar” only at the black market for the of 5,000 Nakfa per quintal.

In a related subject, a great number of electronics equipments such as TVs, refrigerators and stereo systems are being held up at Massawa port.  The regime used to have a one-item-per-person import policy, but has now prohibited imports of electronics across the board.